Old and New

  
 
On My Needles/Hooks:

The Blue Yoke Sweater has been languishing on my needles for eight years, maybe more.  If I remember correctly, I started it when Mom was in rehab for compression fractures of the spine as something for me to work on while I sat with her.  I got as far as about two inches into the yoke and then stopped, reason unknown.  

  
  
 

I'd kept some very spare notes on a little slip of paper which were just enough for me to continue without having to do any major recounting or head scratching.  I am truly surprised that little bit of paper survived.  If it hadn't, I might've been tempted to frog it instead of finishing it, but finish it I shall.  I'm currently up to the collar ribbing, so almost done.  

  
 

I found a ball of unlabeled yarn with very nice colors and decided to use it for Mom's mitts.  I think it's dk or light worsted weight acrylic or an acrylic blend, and not the softest (although it is squishy), but it's the colors that caught my eye.  See:

    
  

I cast on the other day using measurements from memory: an eight inch wrist and nine inch circumference hand, but stopped at the wrist.  It just didn't jive with what my head sees for her hand now.  So I remeasured Tuesday night and, wow, good thing I did.  Wrist is now six inches, hand eight and a half.   Frogged and immediately recast on with new numbers.   It's a plain, simple, afterthought thumb mitt and is working up quickly. 

    
On My Spindles/Wheel:

The Knit Girllls "Expand Your Horizons" January fiber is Southdown, and I just happen to have a wee bit of Babydoll Southdown in stash.  In fact I have all of this year's EYH fiber in stash, so yay!

Babydoll Southdown was something I tried a few years ago for the Wool Breeds Challenge and wasn't too thrilled with. I believe I found it surprisingly difficult to spin, but I can't find my notes (if I even made any) so don't remember what the specific problem was.  It might've been that this fiber begs for longdraw and I wasn't that experienced with it yet, or it might've been something else.

Either way, I finally got around to trying it again on Tuesday.  The part of the roving that was still intact in the 'skein' was fairly easy to spin (longdraw of course).  The pieces I'd pulled off to try previously were much fussier and difficult.  But I persevered and have this bobbin of singles (40gr) to ply, when I decide how many plies I want.  

      
  
 

Tuesday was the first day I'd spun in what seems like ages, and it felt really good.  So after spinning the Babydoll I immediately switched out the bobbins and started on the Fiber Optic merino/silk fiber for the The Knit Girllls other SAL.  It's lovely colors and spinning quite smoothly. I'm spinning smoothed semi-worsted from end to end and will chain ply to maintain the color gradient.

      

      

There are some other small items I have going on various spindles for Spinning Itty Bitty Bits project, but they're so small I'm saving details and pictures for the January FO post.

Brought To Me By: Crafting accomplished with the following audio/video accompaniment:    
  Audiobooks:            
  DVDs etc:   Castle S4; The Backup Plan; The Incredible Journey of Mary Bryant;          
  Pod/VideoCasts: The Knitmore Girls; Round The Twist; The Knit Girllls; Knitting Pipeline;            
 

Fall FO's Part III

 
  Off My Spindles/Wheel:
 
  Columbia-Merino cross:  there is a definite difference in this Columbia/Merino cross ("CxM") fiber than the solely Columbia fiber I previously spun.  The Columbia fiber was soft but crisp.  This CxM fiber is soft with an almost whispy/silky texture.  Also the finer staples allowed me to spin my finest singles from attenuated longdraw to date.  Very little veggie matter, short cuts & nepps meant I could card without precombing or flicking, giving me little waste and excellent (for me) yardage: three skeins of woolen spun fingering wt 3ply, about 840 yds total from eight ounces of fleece.  
   
   
   
   
   
 
   
   
  
   
   Manx Loughtan This is a breed I didn't get to spin in 2011 when I was doing the SpinDoctor Wool Breeds Challenge, so when I saw it at The Spinning Loft I couldn't resist. Manx Loughtan is one of the Northwestern European shorttail sheep breeds, and is on the Rare Breeds Survival Trust's watch list.
  
  "Loaghtans and their relatives covered the hills of the Isle of Man until the 18th century but by the 1950s numbers had declined to a handful. As a result of the work of enthusiasts on the Isle of Man and in England, numbers have steadily increased over the last 50 years. Continued success will ensure the Loaghtan has a future providing excellent quality meat and wool as a pure bred." [Source: Manx Loughtan Sheep Breeders Group http://www.manxloaghtansheep.org/ ]  
  
  "Manx Loghtan fleece is a uniform dark brown, but is paler on the outside where it has been exposed to the sun. It can be either woolly or hairy. The wool is used for hosiery and knitwear, and the staple length is 7-10cm. Technical information about the fleece: Staple length 7-10cm, Fleece weight 1.5-2kg, Bradford count 46-54, Micron measurement 27-33" [Source: British Colored Sheep Breeders Assoc. http://www.bcsba.org.uk/coloured-sheep/manx-loghtan-sheep.html ]
 
  This fiber was spun point of twist from the fold on both my spindle and wheel, and wheel plied for about 490 yards of 2ply fingering weight yarn from four ounces. I enjoyed spinning this and would spin it again.  
  
   
 
   
   
 
   
 

Fall FOs Part II

Off My Needles/Hooks:   
  
  Finally finished knitting one of the many pair of socks I've got going!  These were started one year ago today, Nov 24, 2011, and finished yesterday, Nov 23, 2012.  They are a holiday gift for a friend, and were knit on size 1 (2.25mm) double pointed needles out of the defunct Cables and Lace Lizard Toes base (merino/nylon) sock yarn in the Samhain colorway. The only problem I had with these socks (other than they're black and that's difficult to work with) is the yarn splits a lot.  I hate split stitches; they're so annoying to have to fix.  It slows me down. 
   
   
 
  
 
  Off My Spindles/Wheel:

 
  Targhee fiber:  in the "Freshwater Pearls" colorway from Enchanted Knoll Farm was finished in early October.  This is the fiber I started spinning at the Campaign For Wool spinning demonstration in Bryant Park, Manhattan back in September.  I ended up with about 280 yds of sport weight 3ply yarn from four ounces of fiber. The colors in this yarn are very subtle so there are actually more colors than the picture shows.
 
 
 
 

 
  Brought To Me By: Crafting accomplished with the following audio/video accompaniment:  
  Audiobooks:    
  DVDs etc:   True Blood S4; The Dresden Files;  
  Pod/VideoCasts:   The Knit Girllls; Electric Sheep; Cast On; The Knitmore Girls; Round The Twist;

WIPs and SWIPs

 
 
On My Needles: I keep poking through my knitting WIPs basket, but my only reaction is  Eh!   Not good.  I should be swatching for my SPAKAL sweaters (yes, plural), but its just not happening.  Also Not Good.  So the only knitting I've been working on lately are my striped socks in the Woolgathering colorway.  I'm about four inches down the foot on the second sock. I need to finish it, put the afterthought heel in the first one, and then they'll be finished.  At least something will be finished.
 
 
 
  On My Spindles:  
 
  Once again I'm working on multiple projects at the same time, or perhaps it's more accurate to say serially rather than at the same time.  
 
  There's the Manx Loughton.  This is the first spindle worth:
 
 
 

Then there's the Shetland in black and white I'm spinning for my Dumbledore's Army project on Hogwarts at Ravelry group (sshhhh it's a secret).  My singles are spun, I just need to ply




 I finished spinning the Columbia and moved on to the Columbia/Merino cross or CxM.  The staple length for most of this is less than 2 inches so I'm not combing first, just hand picking and hand carding.  I'm almost finished carding and already spun 10 bobbins worth.  Pic shows rolags left to spin, fleece left to card and spun singles.

 

Of  course, there's also the East Friesian cross that I haven't touched in over a month.  I'm not even sure where I left off on that.  Think I needed to wash more fleece and just wasn't in the mood. 
 And the "Promise" fiber that's buried in the bottom of the SWIPs basket.  Haven't touched that since August or thereabouts.

And then there's this:



This  bit of loveliness is what I really want to spin right now.  It's 8 ounces of BFL from Crown Mountain Farms, dyed in the Annunaki on Tiamat colorway.  I keep picking it up and petting it.   But No. There's this voice that keeps telling me to Step Away From The Fiber. You can't spin it until you finish two SWIPs. Three would be better but two is good.   Damn annoying voice! insert fingers in ears La la la la, I can't hear you!



Brought To Me By:  
  Audiobooks:  These Old Shades & Devil's Cub by Georgette Heyer;    
  DVDs etc:   True Blood S3; Cadfael;
  Pod/VideoCasts:   The Knit Girllls; Round The Twist;
 

On My Spindles

On My Spindles:

I finally finished washing Tex, the never-ending Texel crossbreed fleece - all of it. And I've been combing and carding enough every few days to fill a two-gallon bag with rolags to spin. So far this week that's two bags which spun up to seven variable sized bobbins of singles. I'm guestimating that I will end up with enough singles for at least two maybe three more skeins of yarn. I also need to start "finishing" the 22 skeins I've already spun, i.e. giving them a soak to set the twist and see how much they'll poof up. With any luck I'll be finished spinning this fleece this weekend. Yay!

As part of my WIP Busting efforts, I've pulled out the rest of the white fleeces I started spinning last year and before. That's a Shetland, a Merino cross, and a Columbia. They're the washed stuff, and range in weight from half a pound to about two pounds. There's also the other half of Mo, and the original never-ending fleeces: the two Clun Forest. They need scouring.

After all that white, I needed a little color so this past weekend I started spinning the twelve ounces of Gotland I got last Spring from Two Sisters Stringworks.

I'm spinning this mostly from the fold, semi-woollen, and planning to chain/Navajo ply. It will probably be a thicker yarn than I'd originally envisioned, but since I have twelve ounces I'm pretty sure I can get enough for a good sized shawl.



Brought To Me By:
Audiobooks:
DVDs etc: Doctor Who (season 6); Downton Abbey (S2);
Pod/VideoCasts:  Knitting Pipeline; The Knit Girllls; Round The Twist; Yarnspinners Tales;

TdF Days 21 & 22 - spoke Too Soon

Ya know how I said last time that the yak/merino blend was a fairly easy spin and I'd have no problem getting the first bump done by Sunday? Well, I had to get cocky didn't I.

This is the first half of the bump, about two ounces, spun up. Took me over five hours!!!!



I did okay for the first quarter or so, and then kablam! Not enough twist disguised as just barely enough twist to wind on, or too much twist on too thin a single and snap! I would wind off enough to start up again and it would fall apart. I wound up having to take my lightest spindle and carefully respin a third of the cop while attached to the first part that was okay and then rewind back.

Normally, I spin my singles by look and feel - do I like the way it looks (guess that's the twist angle I'm visually judging), does the twist feel right between my fingertips (not too hard or wiry but definitely changing the fiber texture), does it hold together when I tug gently, and does it ply back on itself the way I like? I think I got too carried away with my fancy drafting and forgot to check my basics. Because when I went back to the basics and added in counting as if I was plying to make sure of sufficient twist in the long drafting zone, everything worked fine.

I'm a little more than half way through the second half of this bump now. I expect to finish it tonight and ply in the morning. Right on time...

TdF Day 20: Yak/Merino blend

Day 20: 

Getting down to the wire here with only three more days left.  

Today I started spinning the 50/50 yak/merino blend in the New Moon colorway from Abstract Fiber. I have two four ounce fiber bumps or strands of top.




I split the first bump in half lengthwise for a standard 2ply yarn.  The staple length is about 2 1/2 inches.  The fiber is soft and slightly spongey feeling. 

This would be very easy to spin worsted, however, the fiber itself doesn't feel (to me at least) as if it would like being compacted into a worsted yarn.  It might take away from the softness of the fiber.  So, instead I'm aiming for a semi-woollen yarn, spinning an attenuated backward draw from the end (kind of the bastard child of longdraw and point of twist).  I tried, at first, spinning point of twist from the fold, but the staple length made it uncomfortable for me.  

The spinning is going fairly smoothly so far.  And I'm pretty sure I can finish spinning and plying this first four ounces by the end of the Tour on Sunday.  


Brought To Me By:
Audiobooks: 
DVDs etc: Veronica Mars, S1; 
Pod/VideoCasts:  Yarnspinners Tales; Round The Twist; 

Tex, Mo, Rasputin & the Buccaneer, Promise

In other words, What's On My Spindles. Lots of fleece and fiber, that's what!

"Tex" is my name for the Texel cross (1/4 Texel, 3/4 Border Leicester, Coopworth, Corriedale & Finn) fleece I'm processing and spinning for a sweater's worth of 3ply yarn. Wise men say I should spin all my singles first before plying. Then when plying mix and match first and last spun in order to even out any variation in my spinning from beginning to end of a big project. But I haven't been able to yet. This is too much spinning and I'm too impatient to see the finished yarn to wait it out. And, more importantly, if I wait, I'll have nothing to turn in for my Hogwarts at Ravelry classes!

So, I've been working on this fleece in batches. I spin fourteen or so bobbins of singles and then do the mixy-matchy plying thing with them. I've done three batches this way and it seems to be working - the finished 3ply yarn is pretty consistent at about 8/9 WPI, i.e. a heavy worsted or Aran weight yarn. Here's first three batches:




The spinning on fourth batch started, but right now I'm waiting for the fleece washing & combing/carding to catch up so I have something to spin. I only have a handful of bobbins spun so far.


In the meantime, I started working on processing "Mo", another 4.5 - 5 pound crossbreed fleece waiting in the wings. Mo (the Sheep's name) is a Finn/Dorset/Targhee cross. I have the whole fleece: half raw, and half pre-washed by the seller. Right now I'm working on the pre-washed fleece. This is a much finer fleece, quite soft, and since it was coated, I've been able to hand card without pre-combing or flicking, although it does require picking and opening up the locks.

Like Tex, I am spinning Mo longdraw from hand carded rolags. Mo is a dream to spin. The fineness of this fleece means my singles are thinner and depending on how much the finished yarn poofs up, I may get the DK weight yarn I was hoping for with Tex. I have four small skeins done except for their finishing bath. I'm going to wait until I have all skeins from this half of the fleece done before I set the twist (for comparison purposes). Here's the four unwashed skeins of Mo:




I know, they look just like Tex. All this white fleece makes me appreciate all my hand dyed fiber even more.

Speaking of which, Rasputin is coming along, slowly. I'm halfway through the third braid. Rasputin is the colorway name for an eight ounce bump of Wensleydale top I got this year from Crown Mountain Farms. Like most of the dyed fiber I get from CMF, I'm spinning it worsted and will chain (Navajo) ply to keep the colors intact. I split the eight ounces into eight approximately even sections which I've then braided for neatness sake until I spin. It's going slowly because I'm spinning worsted lace-ish weight singles (I'm averaging 150 yds of 3ply from each braid). This is going to make a lovely shawl. Here's a skein:




I'm fractal spinning Buccaneer on my turnip support spindle, a first time for me for both. Buccaneer is the colorway of four ounces of superfine Merino I got in The Unique Sheep's tea/fiber club, last year I think. This is my first time purposely fractal spinning and the first time I'm spinning a whole project on my turnip spindle. I'm surprised at how much of a cop that little spindle holds.

For fractal spinning I've split the roving in half lengthwise & set aside one half piece. The second half piece I've split lengthwise into three pieces of approximately 50/25/25%. When I've finished spinning this half I will do the same for the first half I set aside.

Although this fiber is roving not top, it behaves more like top, possibly because of the fineness of the fiber. So, I'm hand carding each color section into a rolag and spinning longdraw from that. Much easier. The two 25% sections are spun, and I've started the 50% section.



Lastly, there's Promise, a soy silk/wool blend. This will be a 2ply worsted spun yarn, hopefully a light fingering to fingering weight. The colors are lovely, but it is a very different feeling spinning experience. It feels...artificial, at least after all the wool I've spun lately. Not bad, just different.




SQUEEE!! Reached over 10,000 yds so far because of all this spinning. Only 7,000+/- to go!

Brought To Me By:
Audiobooks: Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear; Brooklyn: A Novel by Colm Toibin
DVDs etc: Dr Who, season 3; Harry Potter & Sorcerer's Stone; Rosemary & Thyme, season 1;